GAME REPORT

Poland Soldier On Without 'Biba'

Poland go into their crucial Group B showdown against Greece knowing their superstar Agnieszka Bibrzycka will not play and could miss Tuesday's game against Hungary as well.

‘Biba' suffered what appeared to be a badly sprained left ankle early in the third quarter of Poland's 86-52 defeat to tournament hosts Latvia.

Ewelina Kobryn says now is not the time for Poland's players to feel sorry for themselves.

As ever Evanthia Maltsi will be the key player for Greece.

"Without her, I think our team is different," Kobryn said.

"We will have to play harder on defense, not like we against Latvia."

Krzysztof Koziorowicz's side will encounter a Greece team that is sky high following their 59-43 win against Hungary.

Greece held Hungary to just 12 first-half points. Offensively, Kostas Missas' team got 19 points apiece from Evina Maltsi and Styliani Kaltsidou and nine points, six rebounds and four assists from Dimitra Kalentzou.

Last Time Out: Poland beat Greece 59-49 at EuroBasket 2005. In that game, Bibrzycka poured in a game-high 19 points. As a reminder, she will not be in action on Monday.

Key Match-up: Agnieszka Skobel vs Maltsi. Skobel played 16 minutes against Latvia and is almost certain to see more action as a replacement for Bibrzycka. She will need to step up her game after shooting just one of six (17%) from the floor on Sunday. Maltsi struggled from long range against Hungary (one of nine) but did play well overall.

X-Factor: Greece do not have a big team and if Poland decide to try and take advantage, Wisla Can-Pack Krakow center Kobryn will figure prominently. She led Poland in scoring against Latvia with 15 points.

Stats: Poland were two of 14 (14%) from behind the arc against Latvia while Greece were six of 22 (27%) in their triumph over Hungary.

Sounding Off: "We expect a very physical game. We know we have to play good defense and improve on the mistakes we made in our opening game. To have won our first game has given us confidence but we know we have to beat Poland regardless in order to go through because our last group game against Latvia will be very tough" - Greece's Styliani Kaltsidou.

COACH QUOTES

Poland vs. Greece Quotes

Krzysztof KOZIOROWICZ, Poland Head Coach

"We are happy that we won in this hard game. We were playing without our leader Agnieszka Bibrzycka, but everybody stepped up, played with heart, everybody played hard and that is the reason why we won. We don't have players like Maltsi and Kaltsidou, but we played together as a team. Biba really wants to help us but tomorrow she will not play."

Konstantinos MISSAS, Greece Head Coach

"The first half of the game we didn't press the ball, and when you don't play good defense, you can't play good offense. We missed a lot of open shots. If we don't shoot from the perimeter, we can't win. The main reason for our loss was rebounding; we lost too many offensive rebounds because of not enough concentration."